The CliftonStrengths Coaching Blog is a resource for those who want to help others truly understand their strengths and learn how to use them. Gallup experts and outside contributors share tactics, insights, and strategies to help strengths coaches maximize the talent of individuals, teams, and organizations everywhere.

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Friday, August 28, 2015

On a recent Called to Coach we spoke with Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, Oscar Trimboli.

Oscar built a successful career as a manager at Microsoft. One of his proudest achievements was the creation of Microsoft
Protégé -- an experiential learning environment for students to gain insights
and skills while working on real world projects. While at Microsoft, Oscar was
promoted to a managerial position where he tailored development plans to
each of his team members. A significant part of his new role involved
discussing his team members’ potential and opportunities for growth. He was so
successful at improving his team's productivity and engagement that his boss
recommended that Oscar consider personal coaching as a business opportunity.

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

As strengths
coaches we live for the moments when we inspire someone about his or her own
development. We see the a-ha moments happen, and we realize we’re doing exactly
what we were meant to do with our professional lives. Yet, we can’t help but
wonder, how can we ensure that more of our
clients have more a-ha moments and more tangible insights that lead to real
results in their lives and businesses?

We know
that the clients who see the best results are those who are ready and committed
to make a change or grow in some way. This is true for the big company, the
entrepreneur or the individual. Yet, our optimism, undying belief in human
potential and living case studies of transformative work give us hope that
change is also possible for those clients who may be less ready and committed
at the given moment.

So this
leads me to three secrets to introducing strengths to new audiences
effectively.

Monday, August 24, 2015

On a recent Theme Thursday live webcast, we discussed the Focus theme with Jim Harter, Ph.D., Gallup Chief Scientist of Workplace Management and Well-Being. Jim's top five strengths are Achiever, Focus, Learner, Relator and Futuristic.

People with strong Focus talents prioritize and
then take action. They set goals. These goals serve as their compass, helping
them determine priorities and make alterations when needed to get back on
course. Their Focus is powerful because it forces them to filter; they
instinctively evaluate each action before taking it to determine whether it
will help them reach their goal. In the end, strong Focus talents push them to
be efficient. They are extremely valuable team members because their
single-mindedness enhances the speed and quality of their performance and keeps
the team on track.

Thursday, August 20, 2015

On a recent Theme Thursday live webcast, we discussed the Significance theme with John Liesveld, a morning show host on KLIN Radio in Lincoln, Nebraska. John's top five strengths are Competition, Activator, Connectedness, Positivity and Significance.

People with strong
Significance talents want others to see their worth. They want to be
recognized, heard and valued. Particularly, they want to be known and
appreciated for the unique strengths they bring. They seek to have an impact on
people, groups and society as a whole. They want their contributions viewed as
substantial, powerful and significant. They are motivated by their intense
yearning to be recognized, and as a result, they keep reaching. Their
Significance theme pulls them upward, away from the mediocre and toward the
exceptional.People with significance
are lead by a desire to leave a legacy. They want to be seen and noticed for
meaningful work. They are attracted to evidence-based work. People
with strong significance can be described as a champion, a change agent or
an advocate.

For John, significance is thinking about how other perceive his actions, almost
to the point of obsession. This pushes him to act in a way that impacts others.
John sees his desire to be recognized by others as his fuel for doing good in
the world. That is, the recognition he receives from others is not the end
result of his efforts. Indeed, John thinks so much about how his actions are affecting
others that it has made him a better radio host. He is always searching for
material and stories that will please his audience.

John also loves to be on a big
stage. For instance, when John's father and former Gallup Learning and
Development Senior Consultant, Curt Liesveld, passed away, John knew
immediately that he wanted to speak at his father's funeral. John knew this
because his father's inspirational message was so important and John wanted to
share that message with others. John found it energizing to speak at his
father's funeral because he knew the end result -- inspiring others -- was so
important.

To hear more about Significance and how John uses it in his everyday life, watch the full video above or the short theme video below.

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

On a recent Called to Coach we spoke with Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, Mandy Smith.

At the beginning of her career, Mandy spent 12
years in leadership positions for her local government in Australia. She
interacted daily with government employees and the members of the public
that she served, often encountering people who struggled with low
self-worth and feelings of despondency. Although Mandy tried to reassure
these people that they were great, she found it difficult to communicate
that message without the right language and tools to describe the unique
qualities of each individual.

Thursday, August 13, 2015

On a recent Called to Coach we spoke with Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, Sandeep Guatam.

Sandeep is an early adopter
of the positive psychology movement and enjoys blogging on Psychology Today and Times of India about strengths
and positive psychology. Although he did not have a background in psychology, his
passion to learn is what led him to strengths. Indeed, Sandeep's number
one strength is Learner. As his knowledge about strengths deepened, Sandeep felt
a calling to use strengths in his day-to-day life.

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

They
say you have to learn to walk before you can run. This was not true for my
oldest daughter Lucy. When she was a year old, we took her to the pediatrician
because she still wasn’t walking. She even refused to crawl. The doctor assured
us that Lucy was perfectly healthy and that she could still play basketball for
Harvard one day, even if she didn’t walk in her first year of life. This calmed
us temporarily, but then another month went by, and another, and she still had
not taken her first step. She showed signs that she was able to walk. If we
forced her to stand on her feet, her stance was strong. But she would quickly
plop back down on the floor and raise her hands, a sign to be carried.

When
she was almost 15 months old, Lucy was happily playing in the grass with a
four-year-old when the older girl stood up and ran off to play. To our shock
and amazement Lucy stood up and ran after her. My husband and I realized that
Lucy could walk for months, she just chose not to. Once she realized that there
was a social element to walking, she became interested in it.

Friday, August 7, 2015

by Stosh D. Walsh
You’ve probably heard that statement dozens of times,
applied to just as many concepts. But have you considered how it applies to
strengths?

Perhaps you’ve heard of or facilitated a strengths activity
called “Balconies and Basements.” This is a perception activity. Several years
ago, I was facilitating a session with a group of leaders about “barrier
labels” -- the negative perceptions people have of individual themes that prevent
us from experiencing their full potential. Examples of this might include
Futuristic being labeled as “head in the clouds” or Deliberative being labeled
as a “wet blanket.” I wanted to drive home the point that talents, patterns of
thoughts, feelings or behaviors, are neither positive nor negative. Rather, our
perceptions of them in others and our application of our own strengths make
them positive or negative. So, I asked a simple question after I’d asked folks
to brainstorm the positive and negative labels: “Which one of these lists is
reality?”

Thursday, August 6, 2015

On a recent Called to Coach we spoke with Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, Vicki Newell.

Before her career in strengths, Vicki
spent many years with 3M, a Fortune 500 company. Following her tenure at
3M, Vicki was a manager at a start-up company called Opal Orthodontics. It was
there that she first encountered the Clifton StrengthsFinder. Now Vicki owns
and operates Systemized Orthodontics Consulting Group, which provides
comprehensive consulting services exclusively to orthodontists and orthodontic
practice employees.

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

On a recent Called to Coach: Singapore Edition we spoke with Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, Viya Chen.

Viya started her own coaching
company about 10 years ago, initiating her "second career" after
decades in the corporate world. She wanted to help people discover their
strengths and lead them to using those strengths to accomplish their lifelong
goals. Viya believes that you must know yourself before you can
identify what you want out of life, and the Clifton StrengthsFinder is the
perfect tool in that regard. The assessment provides an avenue to knowing
yourself intimately because it reveals the direct links between your talent,
value and productivity.